In this article

What's a safe level of caffeine if I’m breastfeeding?

The NHS recommends you keep your caffeine intake to no more than 200mg a day (COT 2012, EFSA 2015, Gibson-Moore 2018).

When you have anything with caffeine in, whether it's coffee, tea, cocoa, or a bar of chocolate, a small amount of caffeine enters your bloodstream. Once caffeine is in your blood, low levels of it will get into your breastmilk (Briggs et al 2017).

Here's a guide to the amount of caffeine in drinks:

one mug of filter coffee: 140mg

one mug of instant coffee: 100mg

one mug of tea: 75mg

one 250ml can of energy drink: up to 80mg

one 50g plain chocolate bar: up to 50mg

one cola drink (354ml): 40mg

(NHS 2016)
It can be tough to resist the boost caffeine gives you in the weeks and months after having a baby, when exhaustion takes over.

Breastfeeding can also make you feel thirsty, so it’s tempting to drink cup after cup of tea and coffee, just to keep you going.

Watch out for other ways caffeine can get into your diet. Energy drinks can be loaded with caffeine, so it's best to cut them out altogether (NHS 2016).

Espresso-based coffee drinks, such as cappuccinos and lattes, can be higher in caffeine than you think, depending on where you buy them and how many shots of espresso you ask for (Crozier et al 2012, Ludwig et al 2014).

Caffeine is in food, too. How much varies, depending on the product and the amount you have. All of the following contain caffeine:

coffee ice cream

chocolate bars

caffeinated chewing gum

(OTIS 2017)

Caffeine is also found in over-the-counter medicines, including headache remedies (OTIS 2017). Check with your pharmacist if you're not sure about a medicine's ingredients (NHS 2015).

Can too much caffeine harm my baby?

If you have about 200mg of caffeine day, it's unlikely to harm your baby (Briggs et al 2011, COT 2012, EFSA 2015). However, the more caffeine you have, the more will end up in your baby's circulation (Briggs et al 2017, Drugs.com 2017).

The younger your baby is, the longer it takes him to clear caffeine from his system (Briggs et al 2017, Drugs.com 2017). For example, it takes a newborn up to four days to clear caffeine. The amount of caffeine in your baby's body can build up if you keep consuming a lot of caffeinated foods and drinks (Briggs et al 2017, Drugs.com 2017). That’s because your baby’s liver and kidneys are too immature to process it quickly.

By the time your baby is nine months old, he should be able to eliminate caffeine from his system at a similar rate to you (Drugs.com 2017).

It may unsettle your baby if you have a lot of caffeine daily (Briggs et al 2017). If your baby seems restless, or finds it difficult to sleep, try cutting back on or cutting out caffeine to see if it makes a difference (Briggs et al 2017, OTIS 2017).

Most of our knowledge about the effects of caffeine on babies comes from how premature babies are cared for. Caffeine has been used safely for many years to help premature babies breathe (Abu-Shaweesh and Martin 2017). However, when these babies have been given too much caffeine it causes them to be irritable, restless or jittery (Drugs.com 2017, Shrestha and Jawa 2017).

Likewise, research on breastfed, full-term babies suggests that if their mum has more than a moderate amount of caffeine, it may disrupt their sleep (Briggs et al 2017). But we can’t be sure if these sleep problems are definitely linked to caffeine in their mum’s milk (Santos et al 2012), as it’s common for babies to go through phases of waking up.

Are there other reasons to avoid caffeine while breastfeeding?

If you have the circulatory disorder Raynaud’s disease, it’s best to avoid caffeine (NHS 2017). Raynaud’s happens when your blood vessels constrict. This makes your fingers, toes and other extremities change colour from white, to blue, then red, as the blood flow changes. Your extremities may also feel numb, cold and tingly because they’re getting less blood (NHS 2017).

Raynaud’s is a common condition, and is thought to affect 10 million people in the UK (NHS 2017). It can also affect your nipples (NHS 2017, NICE 2017). Caffeine makes the constriction of your blood vessels worse, making breastfeeding painful (NICE 2017). The pain may be sharp, throbbing, shooting or stabbing (Barrett et al 2013, Jeffers 2015).

What can I have instead of caffeinated drinks?

You could try decaffeinated tea or coffee. These are not completely caffeine-free, but have much less than normal tea or coffee. An average cup of decaf tea or coffee may contain between 2mg and 5mg of caffeine (Mayo Clinic 2017).

Water, perhaps flavoured with a slice of lemon or lime, or a glass of skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, are also good alternatives. If you like hot drinks, then warmed, no-added-sugar cordials work well.

Herbal teas are another option, though check the caffeine content of teas on the packet. For example, redbush tea doesn't usually contain caffeine, but green tea does (Mayo Clinic 2017).

If you still want the occasional caffeinated coffee or tea, there’s no need to cut it out completely. Instead:

Brew tea for less time. Steeping your teabag for just one minute instead of five minutes reduces the caffeine by between 20 per cent and 40 per cent (Chin et al 2008).

Switch from brewed coffee to instant coffee, as it’s slightly lower in caffeine (Mayo Clinic 2017). If you don’t mind the (lack of) taste, you could also make instant coffee weaker still by using only half a teaspoon of coffee.

COT. 2012. Overarching statement on risks of chemical toxicity and allergic disease in relation to infant diet. Committee on toxicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment. cot.food.gov.uk [Accessed October 2018]

Track your baby’s development

Join now to receive free weekly newsletters tracking your baby’s development and yours throughout your pregnancy.

Enter your due date or child's birthday

Trying to conceive?

Enter your email address

To give you the best experience, BabyCentre’s website and emails use cookies and similar tracking systems to personalise the content and ads we provide to you. We use your health information to make our site even more helpful. By clicking the button, you agree to our policies and to get emails from us.

This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a doctor or other healthcare professional. Please review the Terms of Use before using this site. Your use of the site indicates your agreement to be bound by the Terms of Use.

This site is published by BabyCenter, L.L.C., which is responsible for its contents as further described and qualified in the Terms of Use.

Support for your parenting journey. Delivered to your inbox.

My Baby This Week Newsletter

Keep up with your baby’s development with personalised weekly newsletters.